Isaac Ray, the outstanding psychiatrist of 19th century America, was responsible for establishing legal psychiatry as a separate discipline, with its own skills, body of knowledge, and goals. Ray was a founder of the American Psychiatric Association. An active social reformer, he was dedicated to implementing the care, treatment, and protection of the insane by the medical profession and society. Concurrently, he demanded the accordance of just respect for the needs of the families of the insane and their communities. Isaac Ray's persistent compass point was the responsible application of humane reason and knowledge to psychiatry, law, and social policy. This project will evaluate his multifarious role in the development of American psychiatry. It will describe and evaluate the significance of his social reform activities. It will complete a central compilation of pertinent manuscript material and provide a manuscript union catalog. The goals of this project include, along with the above, the publication of discrete area studies, and a major publication integrating the biographic, psychodynamic, internal professional, and social historical approaches to Isaac Ray and his world. This study will draw contrasts between Ray's significance for the 19th century and his significance for our own time.